


Alebrijes Know Best

by im_fairly_witty



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Gen, alebrijes know best, the best dog, the good kitty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 23:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14007594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_fairly_witty/pseuds/im_fairly_witty
Summary: Dante is concerned to see his boy Miguel looking sad, but he knows exactly what will cheer him up! Dante just needs to get his good-cat-friend Pepita to help him...





	Alebrijes Know Best

Dante takes good care of his boy (when there isn’t something distractedly tasty around) so he’s definitely concerned when he catches Miguel spending more and more time in the ofrenda room, or taking frequent trips to the cemetery to talk to no one at Hector and Imelda’s graves. 

Dante’s worried that Miguel doesn’t know Hector can’t hear him since it’s not Dia de los Muertos. (Which of course Miguel does know, he’s just using the time to blow off some emotional steam since he misses them, like most people talking at gravesides are. A level of emotion too abstract for a xolo to quite grasp.)

But Dante is a Good Boy™ and can help!!! It’s a long time until the next bridge forms, but he’s got wings! He could fly Miguel- wait… no… that didn’t work out so well last time, did it? Pepita, his good-cat-friend, had to catch them both after the bad singing man threw Miguel off the tall building.

But!!! Maybe Pepita could help again!!! So Dante gives Miguel a reassuring sloppy lick and shakes himself, slipping into the realm of the dead, (and his many-colored glowing skin) and flits off through the purple blue sky towards the dead Rivera’s house. 

The Riveras are excited to see him (which is always awesome!!! because most living people usually aren’t???) and the shop in the land of the dead smells just like the land of the living. Hector scratches Dante’s head and asks if he’s got a letter for him from Miguel (which Dante has managed to deliver a couple times, all letters arriving only somewhat legible through the slobber) but this time Dante’s here to see Pepita, his good-cat-friend, so he goes scampering out to the yard where she’s lounging across enough space to park three cars.

Dante is excited(!!!) to tell her his plan, but she’s unimpressed. Like cats usually are, even if they are good-cat-friends. Pepita thinks that people should follow the rules, and the rules say that living boys should be in living world. 

But Dante tells her just how sad Miguel is, and reminds her how sad Hector and Imelda are that they can’t see Miguel. Pepita sighs heavily and swivels back her ears, annoyed because she knows that Imelda really has been sad about it, and Pepita doesn’t like it when Imelda’s sad. Which Dante knows, so he reminds her about it again and again until Pepita slaps her huge paw on the ground. Telling him to stop, that she knows what he’s doing. 

Dante asks if she’ll at least come see please? And she reluctantly agrees, letting him scramble up onto her back for a ride (because flying far with little wings is really exhausting) and in no time they’ve reached the land of the living and slipped into their disguised forms.

Dante is going to lead the way, but the little cat goes on ahead (which makes sense, since she’s been patrolling this town for a hundred years longer than he has) and they find Miguel sitting against Hector’s shiny new headstone, picking out notes on the white skull guitar. He’s telling Hector about his day and how much he misses him. 

Pepita agrees that it’s very worrying to see the boy talking to no one, and after Dante pleadingly rolls over on his back one or twice, she sneezes disdainfully and twitches her whiskers to say that fine, she’ll help, but only this once. And Miguel has to come straight back after seeing Hector and Imelda.

Dante is SO EXCITED and prances over to Miguel, yapping and jumping all over him until Miguel laughs and stands up, asking what’s going on. Dante checks over his shoulder to make sure Pepita is ready, then gently but firmly latches onto Miguel’s arm and shakes himself, pulling them both into the realm of the dead.

Miguel cries out in shock to see Dante suddenly start to glow and looks suspiciously at his white guitar, but then Pepita, who is bog again, grabs him by the scruff of his hoodie, swings him around to her back, and takes off with a powerful sweep of her glowing wings.  

Their arrival at the dead Rivera’s shop is met many gasps of shock, confused questions, cries of “bad dog!” and “Pepita what were you thinking??” but Dante and Pepita can tell that their people don’t really mean it, and they watch smugly from the sidelines as Hector and Imelda practically pounce on Miguel, grabbing him into a hug that lasts a long time and asking him all about how he’d been and they’re so happy to see him.

Dante tips his head back to look up at Pepita with a sloppy  _ I told you so _ grin. She huffs a breath of shining blue breath down at him, but she’s also growling her thundering purr, so Dante knows that she’s pleased too.

Miguel’s visit lasts a few hours and is full of everyone reminding each other that he should really go home soon, but not listening to themselves. Finally the Riveras, all glowing with a happiness the family alebrijes haven’t seen for a while, walk Miguel back over to Pepita. 

Imelda gives Pepita a stern lecture and instructs her to take Miguel straight home, but also slips her some food to let her know she’s not really mad. Dante is also chastised, but Miguel scratches behind his ears the whole flight home on Pepita’s back.

They drop off Miguel in the cemetery, back into the living realm, and Miguel goes running off back home since he’s been missing all night. 

Dante nudges Pepita in thanks (who swats affectionately at his snout) before prancing off after his boy. 

Pepita might live with the dead most of the time, but Dante’s got a living boy to keep happy. And that’s exactly what he plans on doing, even if it means bending the rules sometimes.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this shallow-prose one shot! I'm working to get all my bigger bits of writing over from my tumblr so more people can enjoy them. :)
> 
> \- Wit
> 
> https://im-fairly-whitty.tumblr.com/


End file.
